Weekly online column by freelance writer David Matthews 2.
Active since April of 1996, BEFORE MSNBC or Fox News!"Freedom isn't limited to the dominant opinion or belief. Freedom is the right to say 'No' even when the appropriate answer is 'Yes.'"

Monday, February 22, 2016

Week of 02/22/2016

Georgia’s Pot Hypocrisy– by David Matthews 2

Back during the holiday
season, there was a story that really served as a kick in the genitals for anyone
who was ever a child.

A nine-year old boy wanted a
Sony PlayStation 4 game system for Christmas.So come Christmas Day, he sees this big box under the tree for him, he tears
open the wrapping and sees the words “PlayStation 4” and is overjoyed.

"This
is the best Christmas ever,” he says twice, “this is the best Christmas ever,
thank you Santa!"

And
instead of a game system, there was a block of wood with a crude drawing and a
note saying “You’re welcome”.

The
boy was crushed.And so was his
father.He took it back to the store,
and, after some phone calls and some serious questions as to whether the store
was being pranked, he got an actual game console along with a $100 gift card.

Thankfully
there was a resolution to the problem, but it still did not take away the
dramatic soul-crushing blow of that young boy when his greatest high of his so-far-brief
life was smashed with the utter betrayal that only a malevolent universe could
bring.He will remember this betrayal
for the rest of his life and it will affect how he sees things.

I
know this from experience.The “joys” of
the holidays are diminished once you spend Christmas Eve in the Emergency Room,
or spending Christmas Day by yourself while the rest of the family is enjoying
festivities elsewhere.The “magic” of
the season goes away after that.And it
doesn’t come back once it is gone.

I’m
sure a whole group of people in Georgia, children and parents alike, felt a
similar betrayal last year.

In
2015, Georgia legislators approved legislation that legalized the use of cannabis
oil for medical reasons.They defied
decades of entrenched mind-control from fascist “Drug War” fanatics and saw the
need to help those in serious distress that only byproducts of marijuana could
provide.

Even
Georgia’s Governor, Nathan “Raw” Deal, seemingly saw reason and signed the
legislation into law.

Unfortunately,
instead of a medicinal PlayStation, patients and parents found a block of legal
wood and the words “You’re welcome” scribbled on it.

You
see, while the use of medicinal marijuana was legalized under specific
conditions and specific situations in Georgia, the state still did not legalize
the supply.Patients and parents of
patients can use all the medicinal marijuana they can get their hands on.They just can’t get their hands on it without
breaking the law.

They
can’t go to states like Colorado, where marijuana is completely legal, and
bring it to Georgia, because that would be a violation of federal drug laws.And they can’t grow it in Georgia – even for
your own use – because that too is illegal.

And
Georgia’s Governor knew this when he signed it into law!This is why he’s known by this commentator as
“Raw Deal”.It seems to be what this
state has been getting from him.

Of
course, signing the legislation seemed politically expedient.Public opinion demanded it be enacted.The pain and frustration recounted by
patients and parents alike were too staggering to ignore.And I’m sure even he could rationalize that
it would be okay if he did it provided that it ultimately did nothing to change
the status quo.“The Pot” would still be
illegal.He was just substituting a
legislative game system with a block of wood.

So
this year, the legislators are trying to fix this.They’re trying to enact legislation that would
allow the state to provide a supply of marijuana that could be used in those
very specific legal situations.

Unfortunately,
they’re running into legislative roadblocks by the usual suspects.The same fascist “Drug War” fanatics that are
using the same tired-old broke-ass talking points about giving in on this one
subject is somehow equivalent to legislating every chemical substance under the
sun, and then, you know, we somehow de-evolve into a “Mad Max” society.

Funny,
because the same fear was used when the subject of same-sex marriages came up, and
that hasn’t materialized since the Supreme Court legalized it.Makes you wonder if the whole “world will
come to an end” line has been over-played just a little bit.

Anyway,
one has to wonder if “Raw Deal” will sign off on this legislation should it
make it to his desk, or if he will kiss it off and side with the “Drug War”
fanatics.

Maybe
a better question to ask would be which companies would be profitable enough to
convince the governor to sign off on this idea.After all, law enforcement on all levels have a financial incentive to
keep “The Pots” as illegal as possible.They can seize money and cars and physical property under asset
forfeiture laws enacted because of the “Drug War”.And it is money and property that they don’t
ever have to give back, even if no charges are ever filed.That’s a lot of money and power at stake, and
you’ll need a pretty strong financial argument to counter it.

But
the ideal question to ask would be why we’re even pussyfooting around on the
subject.

Let’s
get brutally honest here... as a practical libertarian, I see the subject of
marijuana as one of individual liberty.We were hoodwinked into making it illegal in the 1930’s, which was on
par with Prohibition over a decade earlier.A lot of the arguments that were used then are still being used now, only
now we know they’re bunk.Legal and
legalized drugs, especially the ones coming from Big Pharma, are far more
dangerous and are more of a “gateway drug” than marijuana ever was.

Hey,
there are drugs being advertised on television right now where one of the
side-effects given is death!Death!And that drug is legal!There are
other drugs that can lead one to commit suicide or have heart attacks.They impair your judgement, impair your
driving skills, cause serious and permanent health risks, and those are all
legal.But marijuana is supposedly the “bad”
drug.

So,
maybe baby steps are the way to go on this.First show the benefits of medicinal use (which, by
the way, was never really done only because the fanatics imposed a Catch-22 on
the subject), show that these people don’t later become meth-addicts
or coke-heads, rip and burn the prohibitionist scripts into a fine ash and then
smoke it, then talk about full-blown legalization for the rest of the adults.

I
know we’re fighting generations of “this is bad, let’s outlaw it” brainwashing
here, but it’s not the first time that we’ve had this kind of problem.But at the very least, if you’re one of the
legislators that voted for legalization for medicinal use, you should be
obligated to follow that up with supporting legislation that makes last year’s
law more than just an empty gesture.

And
that, by the way, should also apply to the man who campaigned in 2014 as the “Real
Deal”, a.k.a. Governor Nathan Deal.Give
the people what they pushed for, a legislative game system, and not a political
block of wood.

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I am letting the world see these articles in hopes that some of you will read them and be enlightened, informed, and sometimes even amused. However, I must point out that these articles are the intellectual property of David Matthews 2 and Get Brutal Productions. Should any publication wish to reproduce or otherwise purchase any of these articles, you should E-mail me for details. You'll find I'm pretty reasonable. I am not responsible for any missing or broken links to external websites. These links are for related information only. I cannot make any guarantees to the authenticity of external websites. The articles presented reflect the opinions and talents of David Matthews 2. They do NOT necessarily reflect the opinions of the Internet provider. Furthermore, David Matthews 2 is NOT a lawyer, nor does he claim to ever be a member of any medical or legal profession. He is, however, willing to play one on TV. Shake well before opening. Let cool for five minutes before serving. Remove tag under penalty of law. Be kind, rewind. Buckle up, it's the law. This is not your brain on drugs, this is an omelet with bacon. And for crêpes sake, RIGHT LANE SLOW, LEFT LANE FAST!